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Put the food processor away: For sweeter garlic and flavorful herbs, pick up the mortar and pestle.
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Low-tech mortar and pestle can help heighten flavors
With all the high-tech kitchen equipment available today, one of my favorite tools is the low-tech mortar and pestle - a heavy, unbreakable bowl in which foods are ground or pounded to a puree with a club-shaped pestle made of stone or wood. You might wonder why anyone would want to do something manually when you can dispatch it in a few effortless seconds with a machine. But this ancient tool creates effects that a food processor simply can't achieve, and it has endless applications in a modern kitchen, especially in the summer.
The pounding action of the pestle is the key; it releases mellow, fully developed flavors. With herbs, for example, the bruising action of the pestle on the leaves activates their volatile oils. A classic basil pesto made in a mortar will be more fragrant, with "rounder" flavors, than one made in a food processor, which chops, rather than crushes.
This is especially apparent with garlic, which will have a mild, almost sweet flavor when crushed. Garlic pureed in a processor becomes bitter and harsh. This is the reason the famous garlic sauces like aioli from France and Spain are still made by hand with mortar and pestle. And why, whenever I make a sauce that features raw garlic, I pound the garlic to a paste with a pestle before adding it to the sauce. If I'm in a hurry, I might make the base of a mayonnaise-type sauce such as an aioli or rouille in a food processor, but I'll still pound the garlic separately and stir it into the finished sauce to keep it from getting bitter.
Texture is important, too: Pounding and grinding produces a much more elemental texture than a food processor, which yields a uniform puree. There is also a sensual, tactile element to working with a mortar and pestle. You are experiencing the process of change in the food as you use it, building flavors and dimensions layer by layer as you go.
I use mortars and pestles for all kinds of things beyond sauces. For example:
Loosen the peel of a clove of garlic.
Coarsely crush dried spices and saffron, and combine them into rubs and seasoning pastes.
Bruise fresh herbs to release their flavors.
Pit olives and summer cherries.
Pound soft ingredients like beans and olives to yield coarse purees and mashes, perfect for bruschettas.
Make quick herb oils to use as sauces or to add to soups or stews.
Mortars and pestles are easy to improvise: I've used rocks, door knobs, and fat wooden dowels in a pinch, pounding ingredients right on a counter or in a metal bowl.
If you want to buy a mortar and pestle, look for a mortar with enough weight to prevent it from sliding around. It should also be rough on the inside to help break down foods and big enough to make sauces and purees without spilling over.
Unpolished marble or stone are good materials, and laboratory supply houses often have ceramic beauties. Steer clear of glass and wood.
Pestles can be of just about any strong, durable material - marble, wood, ceramic - as long as they are the right shape: oblong with a somewhat flattened pounding end that presses and grinds food firmly against the mortar. A big, heavy pestle can cut pounding time.
